Monday, November 5, 2012

This was our first week with no soccer ... no soccer practices, no soccer games, no tournaments to get ready for and no uniforms to constantly wash. Have to say, it seemed like a very quiet week, but put Halloween and parent/teacher conferences in the mix, it all of the sudden did not stay so quiet.
Halloween was fun even though the weather did not cooperate this year (cold and rainy!). Bella lasted 30 minutes of trick or treating, but the boys made sure they went to every single house in the neighborhood. And when they got home they were a muddy, wet mess. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was so concerned with getting them dry I did not even think of it. We had a wounded hockey play, a beautiful mermaid and a gorilla ninja living in our home that evening. Here is their pic before they stepped out into the cold and rain ...

Aidan had Spirit week at school. One day was crazy hair day and he wanted pink hair to support Breast Cancer Awareness month. It was so fun to see all of the kids on the school bus with hair painted about every color of the rainbow (and then some!)

I also had my meeting with Keenan's 1st grade teacher this week. Keenan, as many of you know, is our clown in the family. His teacher told me that he is very considerate and really watches out for his little sister. She even said she has had no sitings of "Keenan the clown" during classtime. So thankful for how well he is doing this year in his new school and new routine. Here is a recent picture of Keenan and LuLu ...

And last, but not least, we received our LOA for Eli on November 1st!! This is the letter from China giving us their approval to be his family. The LOA arrived at our agency on the 1st, then arrived at our door on the 2nd. I ran it around to get Michael's signature and to say "yes, we accept!" and then quickly took it to the FedEx store to be shipped back to our agency. We think we will travel in 2-3 months and are praying we travel before Chinese New Year begins in February. The next steps are new to us as they are different from what we did when we adopted Bella and there are several steps to go through. The good thing is that we will be notified as each step is completed so we will really have a better idea of when we may travel as each step is marked off the to do list.

So thankful that every day we are a little closer to bringing Eli home. And so grateful for our God who we know is watching over him and all of the other precious children each and every day.﻿

The Fam

Welcome

Welcome to our blog. We are the Garland family. Michael, Heather, Aidan (12), Keenan (9), Isabella (8) and Eli (3). We brought Isabella home in August of 2009, and Eli home in February 2013. We hope you enjoy our journey as a family of 6!

Aidan

Keenan

Bella

Eli

Our four blessings

Timeline

February 15: Apply to CCAI;
February 16: Apply to FAC (homestudy agency);
May 24: Received Final Homestudy;
May 25: Sent I800A application to USCIS;
July 11: USCIS Approval;
July 20: DTC;
July 24: LID;
August 9: LOI submitted to China, Eli's file locked!!;
August 17: Pre-approval from China;
September 19: Out of Translation;
November 1: LOA;
November 21: USCIS Provisional 800 Approval;
December 18: Article 5 issued;
January 9: Travel Approval!;
January 21: Eli in our arms forever!!